Method and apparatus for pollinating plants grown under glass



Aug. 22, 1933- w. LAFFERTY 1,923,217

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR POLLIN'ATING PLANTS GROWN UNDER GLASS Filed Sept 29, 1932 4/ INVENTOR. M Wee/er a affer/y ATTORNE YJ,

' ejector the invention Patented Aug. 22, 1933 1- STATE-S METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PoHZiNKT- VING PLANTS GROWN UNDER cuss -Wheeler Lafierty, Ohio Application September 29, 1932 I V f Serial 635,351 Y 9 Claims. (o1. 41-111 The present invention relates to a methodand apparatus for causing the pollination of flowers :01 plants normally pollinated by the action of the wind when such plates are grown under glass where natural conditions do not prevail and,

more particularly, the invention relates to a meth- 0d and apparatus for simulating theaction of the 1 wind in pollinating the flowers of tomato vines grown in greenhouses and the like where natural l0 flsfiation of the air does not occur. Y

16 -the-action .oi the wind whichcarries the pollen ,to the pistils oi the blossoms and fertilizes the 1 Where plants are grownunder glass, as

in greenhouses-the action 01' the windis absent v .mnd it becomes necessary to resort to artificial 2o methods, of distributing the pollen. This has I been done manually by striking the tomato vines or other: plants with a rubber hose or other instrument to agitate the vine and to cause the P011811. to be'distributed. Where the number of atpiants involved islarge, it will be readily seen M this is a slow and laborious method, particularly-in view of the fact that pollination takes placetoa satisfactory degree only in' sunlight. when the weather is frequently cloudy, as is often 30 the case during the "early season when crops grown under glass are most profitable, this man! ual agitatingoperationmay require to be repeated. e many, times. Other methodsof inducing pollination have also been employed but all of these obtained being only moderately satisfactory.

, The method herein to. be described and the apf for carrying outsuch method permits q-pollination to. be induced without the employ- -mmtofhand labor and also makes itpossible ,to'polllnate each 0! a large'number of plants simultaneously seas to take advantage of short-- It is,=accordinglv.gan ob to provides method of his. ducing the pollination of plants normally feroi sunshine.

by the nation of the wind, which avoids the. offhand labor; vAnother object of. the invenmi 'tion is to provides method 01 'mducing the polliof suchplants in a manner permitting the fifigpoaination of. a ve1ylarge number of plants si- Still another object. of the in-, provide apparatus by-w'hich the method of theinvention can be practically; car- .Referring to the drawing. a

ridge, carrying lightsotglass and are the means hereinafter fully described and mticularly pointed out in theclaims. The annexed drawing and the iollowingdascription set forth in detail certain mechanism.

embodying the invention, such disclowd means;

constituting, however, butone of various mechanw ical formsin which the principle of the invention may be'used. In-said annexed drawing: Fig. 1 is a-vertical section taken transversely; through a. greenhouse unit; Fig. 21s a horizontal section taken through such a unit; 3 and. 4- are detail views of portions of the apparatus shownin Figs. 1 and 2; and Fig. 5 is anotherdetail view of a. driving means constituting part of the invention apparatus. I

greenhouse imit 6 is a. structure about thirty (30) to fifty feet in width and about one hundred (100) reet long, other units '1 and 8 being connected thereto, desired, and being supported at the points 'where they are joined, by side posts 9. A r00! 10 slopes from the ridge l1 tothe gutters 12 above the side posts Q'and sash bars-l3 extend from gutter to on purlins Mrunning lengthwise of the greenhouse; unit. These purlins are, in turn, supported on-purlin posts 15 running down into the ground ,below the greenhouse. Center posts 16 are simi-' larly mounted inthe ground and cooperate with the 'purlin posts to support the "structure. Ventilating means are also provided to raise and lower the ventilators 1'1 adjacent to and hinged on the ridge 11 when it isdesired to ventilate the strucuiareexpensive and time-c,=the results; r

tute- V. o When acrop, such as tomatoes, .which requires overhead-support, is to-be grown under glass, 'numerous strings 18. are run from pegs in the ground I to wires 19 strung lengthwise of the greenhouse andthese wires areyin turn, stretched. cross bars 21 which are, most inexpensively,

mounted on the purlin 15 and center posts 16 by. means of suitable brackets or'on thegflen house endv walls. Structural parts, such as' -the foregoing, ventilator rods and the like, may be used: torfsupporting these fcross 'bars '21, three points of:-support' being ordinarilygprovided for a 'greenhouseunit'ot average width} Forthe purposes'of the present invention, these cross ibars 21 are' somountedhn tne urnn posts and other structural members which-may be used purlinsypurlin posts, etc; are best; mad'ebi' gas that they may slide transversely oi. the green. house; Itinay henoted that both the crossbars,

,plpe since this is a m M ct mg no factorily serves the purposes for which it is used.

' ly the length of the greenhouse;

The cross bars 21 and the wires 19 stretched therebetween thus constitute a framework supported on the posts 15 and 16 above the tomato vines or other crop grown in the greenhouse and serving to support a muitiude of approximately vertical elements, such as'strings, directly supporting the-vines; If, now, a sudden motion is imparted to the cross bars 21, the entire structurewill be likewisemoved and the vines supported by the structure will be agitated.

motion is imparted to the cross bars by cams 22 mounted on a shaft 23 extending approximate- V As-shown more in detail in Fig. 5, the agitating mechanism consists of the cams 22, of which there will be one for each cross bar, an extension 24' on one'end of the cross bar having a roller 25 for contact with" the face of the cam, and a spring 26, attached to the cross bar and to the side of the greenhouse. The cam is driven by means of a motor 27 through a reduction gear 28, bevel gears 29 and 30 and a worm 3Imeshing-with a sprocket 32.0n the cam. "As the cam. revolves, the extension '24, with the cross-bar 21to which it is attached, is gradually forced laterally away from its normal position against the pull of the spring 26-until the point of maximum displacement is reached and the cross bar and extension suddenly return to their-former position under'the pull of the spring 26. This motion will continue as long as the motor is left running and the sudden return of the cross bars 21, as each revolution of the cam is Y es completed, agitates the wires 19 imparting a shaking motion to the strings on which the tomato vines, or other plants, are supported, so that the blossoms. distribute their pollen as if agitated be provided. This isdone by means of the struc- .by the wind.

Since iron pipe is'used for the cross bars 21 and there is, moreover, a considerable inward pull on the cross bars at each end of the greenhouse-due to the fact that the wires 19,-carrying the'weight of the. plants,"are stretched therebetween, some method of mounting these cross bars so vtliatthey will be 'slidable when acted upon by the cams 22 without too'much' friction, must 7 ture most clearly shown in Figs. 3 and 4 of the drawing. 'A bracket 33 isboltedto one of the posts 15 or 16 by meansof bolts 34 and'carries rollers 35 and 36 mounted on spindles 37 and 38,

the shafts. 39 and 4001* which are secured in 1 the bracket 33 by means of bolts 41; Screws 42 and washers 43 secure therollers 35 and 36 in place on the spindles 37 and 38, the rollers 35 being'concave tolfit the. surface of the pipe and 2 maintain the cross-bars above'thejbrackets 33 and ,the cylindrical'rollers36 holding the bars in the concavity so provided. In this way the cross bars are, securely supported and the friction from both a the weight of the supported plants and the lateral pullof the wires 19 is reduced to a ithat the-cross bars can be reciprocated by the cam action described above without excessivewear.

tothe fact pollination takes place mostefiectively-infsunlight, the method carried "on by the described apparatus in order to require a minimum of attention andto be fully automatic is best performed by agitating the plants for short 1 periods 5 at intervals through the day.

a method whichagitates all of the plants in the greenhouse simultaneously for several minutes duringxeach hour 'or one-half hour oi i Q d ylig t likely to distribute thepollen while the sun is shining during one or more of such periods. Accordingly, the motor 27 is'controlled by a timing device 43, which maybe of any standard type and does not require further description. It will also be apparent that such a timing device may control a' number of motors located in different greenhouse units or in separate structures located in the same vicinity since 'all greenhouses in the neighborhood and the same treatment will be effective for each.

Various modifications of the apparatus described may be made without departing from .the conditions of sunlight will be the same for the scope of the invention. For instance, a stroke of aboutifour inches has been found to be effective in agitating tomato plants and the cross bars 21 may be moved through this distance and allowed to return suddenly to their former positions either by making the cam 22 of the necessary dimensions to impart a movement of this magnitude or the extensions 24 maybe connected to the, cross bars 21 by a lever which multiplies the movement imparted bya smaller cam to the desired degree. Also, the cam may be replaced by a circular member carrying a trip rod which periodically pushes the cross bars out of place.

and permits them to return under the pull of a spring similar to spring 26. Inv fact, any well known means, of converting the rotation'of a ,motor into a reciprocating motion may be The method performed by the above described apparatusis found to bevery efiective in pollinating the blomoms of the tomato vine where the latter is grown under glass and is not subject to the riormai action of the windto induce pollination. Each of a large number of vines present in agreenhouse is agitated simultaneously and thus a short period during which the sun may be during the early part'of the season may be taken advantage of to pollinate blossoms on all of the plants. This is a considerable improvement over hand methods since only a' few plants can be agitated by hand during a short interval of sunshine'and continuance.v o1 theoperation must wait 'upon the next appear ance of the sun, if pollination is to be satisfactory.

In addition, by setting the time control 43 so that the motor runs'for a few minutes at periodic intervals, agitation of the plants will be bound to occur while the sunisshiningat some time during the day, sothat no attention is required to insure that pollination is taking place under favorable conditions. Thus the time control may be set so that themotor runs and the plants are agitated'for a few minutes each hour or halfhour from thelmi'ddle of the morning, by which time a supply of pollen is dried, until the middle is dried during that day has been'distributed and further agitation would produce no additional effect Of course, the length of the period of -agitation and the intervals at which these take of the afternoomby-which time'the pollen which place can'be varied by adjusting the timing mechnism asxconditions demand oras the growerde sires., i

' Other modes ofapplyingthe principle of my invention may be employed instead of the one explained, change being vmade as regards the mechanism herein disclosed, provided the means stated by any of the following claimsor the equivalentof such stated means be employed.

I therefore particularly point out distinct- 1y= claim asmy invention: 3 3 1. A methodof pollinating under wind-excluding conditions plants normally fertilized through the-wind, which comprises supporting said plants as a unit, repeatedly displacing said plants as a unit under stress and suddenly replacing said plants as aunit with relief of stress.

4. A method of pollinating tomato plants grown under wind-excluding. conditions which comprises supporting a plurality of said plants as a unit and repeatedly agitating said plants, likewise as a unit, for a few minutes at a time during optimum hours of day-light.

5. An apparatus for pollinating plants grown under glass, said plants being of a species normally fertilized by the action of the wind comprising a common means of support for a plurality of said plants, and automatic means for intermittently agitating said common means of support.

6. An apparatus for pollinating plants grown under glass, said plants being of a species normally fertilized by the action of the wind, comprising a common means of support fora plurality of said plants, automatic means for intermittently agitating said common .means of support, and timing means for actuating said agitating means.

7. An apparatus for pollinating plants grown under glass, said plants being of a species normally fertilized by the action of the wind, comprising approximately vertical elements supporting each plant, a horizontal element sustaining said vertical elements and plants, transverse members connected to said horizontal elements, and reciprocating means periodically moving said transverse members to agitate the entire structure and the attached plants.

8.: An apparatus for pollinating plants grownv under glass, said plants being of a species normally fertilized by the action of the wind comprising approximately vertical supporting means for each plant, a horizontal framework disposed above said plants and sustaining said vertical supporting means, resilient elements on said framework and means for repeatedly forcing said framework laterally against said resilient elements and releasing the same.

9. An apparatus for pollinating tomato plants grown under glass which comprises vertical posts set in theground, cross bars mounted onsaid posts in slidable relation, a plurality of wires stretched between said cross bars and attached thereto, a plurality of strings suspended between said wires and the ground and serving as supports 'for tomato vines, and rotatable cams adapted to engage said cross bars and reciprocate the same.

WHEELER LAFFERTY. 

